Redemption
by DanielNieves
Summary: Scared that her last teammate would die, Haruno Sakura never told him how she felt. But in the end, would it be too late, or could she redeem herself. Post Manga 429 spoilers


Redemption

I

"Sakura-chan, I've known for you quite some time… and you know how I feel about you… do you feel the same?" Blue, cerulean eyes peered into the emerald ones of his pink haired teammate. The speaker was Uzumaki Naruto, seventeen year old jounin of Konoha, the female was Haruno Sakura, jounin of Konoha.

Cocking her head to the side, she got a good look at her teammate. Long, spiky blond hair spiked all around and hung over his face, giving him the retro-Yondaime look. Blue eyes widening at the pause before closing again as Naruto turned his head to hide his embarrassment. "Naruto, it's complicated, I love you, and you know that. But I'm not going to risk our friendship, I don't want to lose you." Sakura replied honestly.

Life had not treated her good. After her childhood crush had left Konoha, he nearly killed Naruto on several occasions all in Naruto's attempt to keep his promise to the pink haired jounin. It had definitely traumatized her when Sasuke had returned to Konoha, but not in the way she wanted, he'd returned to destroy their village alongside Pain and burn it to the ground. Naruto using his Senjutsu had killed Pain, for good and managed to weaken the Uchiha with his legendary status, but it had been Sakura to finish him off.

Chakra releasing upon impact, she'd literally had taken off the Uchiha's head to save Naruto, and she hadn't been able to forgive herself for it. Hell, she hadn't been able to forgive him, if only Naruto had been stronger she wouldn't have had to save him. The last year, her relationship with Naruto had been strained, he'd been training even harder to become Hokage and finally defeat the Akatsuki and Sakura had all but avoided him.

Finally after a nearly botched mission that had caused Naruto to save her hide, had she finally starting talking to her blonde friend, but even then it had taken a bit. Which led them to now, Naruto's guilt ridden admission of his love for her and her subsequent rejection.

But she had told him the truth, she didn't want to lose him, she was scared that if their relationship went deeper and he died in the battle against Akatsuki, it would kill her. She didn't want to become a Tsunade, guilty that she hid her love from Jiraiya the Gama Sennin and he'd been killed by Pain, because he hadn't been strong enough.

Naruto only killed Pein after he had two remaining bodies, and he'd lost to the Uchiha, how would he survive against Uchiha Madara?

So she closed her feelings off from him, shutting them in a dark corner in the recesses of her mind. She refused to turn into Tsunade, a morbid, bitter shell of a kunoichi.

Naruto's voice cut off any further thoughts. "It's okay Sakura…I just needed to tell you, I know I didn't have a chance with someone like you." Naruto spoke, and the last thing she saw was his beautiful cerulean eyes as tears slid down his whiskered cheeks.

II

One year later

He couldn't scream, couldn't do much as the Kyuubi was slowly being ripped away from him. Pain, unlike anything he'd ever known was tearing into him. It felt like someone had poured hot lava in his insides as a heat unlike anything he'd ever known was burning him from the inside out.

The pain continued for hours, for days, though he wouldn't have known, the pain consumed him to the point where time was no longer an issue. Then the pain stopped, and blissful silence consumed him.

III

It was too late…

That's all Sakura could think as she ran as fast as she could towards Naruto. The Akatsuki were gone, what was left of them anyway. They had been reduced to Kisame, Madara, Konan, Suigetsu, Zetsu, Juugo, Karin, and Kabuto. Naruto's dead body was laid on the ground, the Kyuubi's disappearance noticeable by the lack of whiskers on his cheeks.

He had died recently, all because of his foolish love for her. The Akatsuki had kidnapped her and held her hostage until Naruto turned himself in. Despite knowing that the Kyuubi in their hands was a bad outcome, he loved her so much that he'd done it anyway.

Tears sprung to her eyes, why did he have to love her?

Why did she have to love him?

Bending over his face, she placed a chaste kiss on his face. Her first kiss, and it'd been wasted away on a dead Naruto.

She let out a ear piercing shriek, consumed with rage and grief. It wasn't supposed to go down like this…

He was supposed to have beaten the Akatsuki, not toss himself in their path like a sheep to the butcher. They were supposed to have gotten married, and he was supposed to of become the Rokudaime Hokage and they'd have blonde haired babies with green eyes…

She never got to tell him she loved him…

But perhaps it wasn't too late to show him.

Placing her hands on his prone, unmoving dead chest, her chakra spiked as a bluish glow as she poured her life energy into him… before her world faded to black.

IV

"You stupid fucking bitch…" Naruto growled out… The woman he loved laid there like a broken doll, emerald eyes staring back at him uncaringly. She'd sacrificed her life for his, why would she do something stupid like that?

She didn't love him…

"Why Sakura-chan? Why did you do it?" Naruto demanded, his sobs more frantic as he shook her body in an attempt to bring her back. Memories of being on Team Seven came to him hauntingly, reminding him of what they had experienced together, and what they'd never have again.

"Sakura… I don't want to live without you…."

It had all happened so fast. She had been kidnapped and he had left Konoha in a hurry, against the Hokage's protests that it had been a trap. He had managed to kill Karin, Suigetsu and Kisame before Madara had stopped him with his Mangekyou Sharingan and then he had been dead.

Then he woke up and Sakura was lying there dead next to him…Why?

She had sacrificed her life for his dream… had she loved him after all?

He wouldn't stop… being Hokage could wait for another day…until he killed the Akatsuki, he'd never stop… because that was his nindo.

A/N: Don't ask me why I wrote this, because I honestly don't know. I know it's short, just over a thousand words and you ain't got to review it, but it was bugging me and refused to go away so I wrote it… I don't know if there will be a sequel and I don't know if the readers will like it… I don't really care… Most of my fiction is based to please the readers but this one is for me… If you like it cool, if you don't whatever, it's not meant for you anyway.


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